Quincy Jones dated Ivanka Trump: ‘She had the most beautiful legs I ever saw’
February 8, 2018
Fresh off of giving a completely bonkers interview to GQ a few weeks ago, Quincy Jones has given another bonkers interview to Vulture. At first I was like “Oh, he talked more sh-t in the GQ piece,” but no – this Vulture interview is completely wacky too, but it’s a good kind of wacky. It’s IDGAF-wacky. It’s “let me tell you killed Kennedy” wacky. Beyond that, it’s getting a crazy amount of attention for two big reasons. One, he talks about how he dated Ivanka Trump, pre-Precious Jared. Two, he says the Beatles were terrible musicians. Ouch. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
Michael Jackson stole from other artists & wouldn’t give them credit or money: “I hate to get into this publicly, but Michael stole a lot of stuff. He stole a lot of songs. [Donna Summer’s] “State of Independence … The notes don’t lie, man. He was as Machiavellian as they come. Greedy, man. Greedy. “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough” — Greg Phillinganes wrote the c section. Michael should’ve given him 10 percent of the song. Wouldn’t do it.
He knows who killed JFK: “Who killed Kennedy… [Chicago mobster Sam] Giancana. The connection was there between Sinatra and the Mafia and Kennedy. Joe Kennedy — he was a bad man — he came to Frank to have him talk to Giancana about getting votes.
When he first heard rock music: “Rock ain’t nothing but a white version of rhythm and blues, motherf–ker. You know, I met Paul McCartney when he was 21.”
His thoughts on the Beatles as musicians: “That they were the worst musicians in the world. They were no-playing motherf–kers. Paul was the worst bass player I ever heard. And Ringo? Don’t even talk about it. I remember once we were in the studio with George Martin, and Ringo had taken three hours for a four-bar thing he was trying to fix on a song. He couldn’t get it. We said, “Mate, why don’t you get some lager and lime, some shepherd’s pie, and take an hour-and-a-half and relax a little bit.” So he did, and we called Ronnie Verrell, a jazz drummer. Ronnie came in for 15 minutes and tore it up. Ringo comes back and says, “George, can you play it back for me one more time?” So George did, and Ringo says, “That didn’t sound so bad.” And I said, “Yeah, motherf–ker because it ain’t you.” Great guy, though.
Whether we’re in a better place now, as a country, than we were in 1968: “No. We’re the worst we’ve ever been, but that’s why we’re seeing people try and fix it. Feminism: Women are saying they’re not going to take it anymore. Racism: People are fighting it. God is pushing the bad in our face to make people fight back.
Whether the #MeToo revelations came as surprise: “No, man. Women had to put up with f–ked-up sh-t. Women and brothers — we’re both dealing with the glass ceiling.”What problem he wishes he could solve in America: “Racism. I’ve been watching it a long time — the ’30s to now. We’ve come a long way but we’ve got a long way to go. The South has always been f–ked up, but you know where you stand. The racism in the North is disguised. You never know where you stand. That’s why what’s happening now is good, because people are saying they are racists who didn’t used to say it. Now we know…It’s Trump and uneducated rednecks. Trump is just telling them what they want to hear. I used to hang out with him. He’s a crazy motherf–ker. Limited mentally — a megalomaniac, narcissistic. I can’t stand him. I used to date Ivanka, you know.
Seriously, he dated Ivanka: “Yes, sir. Twelve years ago. Tommy Hilfiger, who was working with my daughter Kidada said, “Ivanka wants to have dinner with you.” I said, “No problem. She’s a fine motherf–ker.” She had the most beautiful legs I ever saw in my life. Wrong father, though.
Trump’s leadership skills: “A symphony conductor knows more about how to lead than most businesspeople — more than Trump does. He doesn’t know sh-t. Someone who knows about real leadership wouldn’t have as many people against him as he does. He’s a f–king idiot.
Whether he’s religious: “No, man. I know too much about it. I knew Romano Mussolini, the jazz piano player, the son of Benito Mussolini. We used to jam all night. And he’d tell me about where the Catholics were coming from. The Catholics have a religion based on fear, smoke, and murder. And the biggest gimmick in the world is confession: “You tell me what you did wrong and it’ll be okay.” Come on. And almost everywhere you go in the world, the biggest structures are the Catholic churches. It’s money, man. It’s f–ked up.
There are a million more quotes that I could excerpted, like how rich people don’t give a f–k about poor people, how John Coltrane copied Nicolas Slonimsky, how much he likes Bruno Mars and Sam Smith and Chance the Rapper, but how all of the younger musicians need to go back to basics and learn their craft. But seriously… he dated Ivanka Trump. And he thinks her father is a deranged idiot. And he thinks Catholicism is “a religion based on fear, smoke, and murder.” What a life he’s lived.
Also: He claimed that Marlon Brando had slept with Marvin Gaye, Richard Pryor and James Baldwin. Pryor’s widow confirmed that her husband had slept with Brando. What in the world?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
